The Shepherd Mayfair: just opened in Shepherd Market, review to follow
Mayfair's newest boutique hotel opened its doors on 1 September on the site of the district's oldest house. I will be checking in soon; in the meantime, here is what you need to know.
Shepherd Market has always felt like a village that Mayfair forgot to tidy up. A tangle of narrow lanes and tiny squares tucked between Piccadilly and Curzon Street, it is the site of the original May Fair, the riotous annual fair that gave the district its name until polite society shut it down in the 18th century. The architect Edward Shepherd built the market that replaced it, and the place has kept a slightly louche, convivial character ever since, with its old pubs, pavement tables and small restaurants a world away from the marble lobbies of Park Lane a few streets west.
It's the perfect spot for a small hotel with a sense of fun, and on 1 September, The Shepherd Mayfair finally opened there, after a wait of more than a year.
Built on the oldest house in Mayfair
The hotel stands on the site of The Cottage, a house dating to 1618 and said to be Mayfair's oldest. The new building rises six floors, with architecture by Buckley Gray Yeoman and interiors by Timothy Shepherd of the studio Shepherd&, who is also the founder of the Elegant Hotel Collection behind the project. The building has 82 rooms and suites, each configured differently and designed to feel more like a Mayfair townhouse than a hotel room. Next door, at 36 and 37 Hertford Street, sixteen one- and two-bedroom residences are being sold as private homes.
Fayre, the Lounge and Teddy's
The ground-floor restaurant, Fayre, takes its name from the old May Fair, and its walls carry artwork by Adam Ellis inspired by the fair's colourful history. It seats 62 and serves seasonal British cooking from breakfast through to dinner. The early menu includes a braised short rib croquette, citrus-cured trout and a Gloucester Old Spot pork chop, and the puddings arrive by the glass, with a new one each week; the first was a strawberry and Champagne trifle, which is exactly the kind of thing I hope a Mayfair hotel restaurant will put on its menu.
The Lounge is a café with 46 seats and a terrace spilling onto the market, which should be a lovely place for coffee in the morning or a glass of something in the evening. Below ground, Teddy's is a late-night cocktail bar styled on the 1960s and reached through a hidden entrance. Shepherd Market has always been at its best after dark, and a proper bar of its own may well become the hotel's main attraction for Londoners.
What I will be looking for
I will be staying soon and will report back in full. I most want to know whether the rooms live up to the townhouse promise, whether Fayre can hold its own against a neighbourhood already full of good places to eat, and how quiet the rooms are on a Friday night, when the market's pubs are at their liveliest. If the hotel captures some of Shepherd Market's character rather than polishing it away, it could become one of the West End's most likeable small hotels. And last, but not least, how does it compare to the fantastic Newman Hotel in Fitzrovia?
The details
The Shepherd Mayfair, Shepherd Market, Mayfair, London W1. Opened 1 September 2026. 82 rooms and suites, Fayre restaurant, the Lounge with terrace, Teddy's cocktail bar. Rates on request. Full review to follow.